Windows Phone 7 might not be pretty, but its no joke

[kopite19]

Played with the HD7 with standard WinPhone7 running on Wednesday(no HTC Sense) and I was kinda underwhelmed. I guess it was due to the fact the phone was stock without any customisation. I actually found the phone pretty hard to navigate..I'd end up stuck in some menu screen and the back button would just take me in a loop resulting in my having to press the home button and lose anything I've done (save-state multitasking is pretty much a no go).

It didn't feel intuitive nor did it feel as snappy as I was led to believe. The little animations are lovely, but I'd rather have the info I requested as quick as possible. Comparing loading times for similar apps on the HD7 and the iPhone (Calender, Stocks, Calculator and Camera) ALL loaded faster on my iPhone 4 which only has about a gig of space left. I'd removed all apps from multitasking to ensure that wasn't affecting anything. The WinPhone7 would be showing an animation to hide the loading, but when loading a non-animation screen like Stocks, you are presented with a black screen for a moment which never occurs on iOS.

Minor, but noticeable.

Camera quality left alot t be desired on the HD7 but I'm not surprised. I didn't test in low level light, but expect the dual LED flash to perform better than the iPhone. One thing that did annoy me was the fact I took a photo with the HD7 and it decided to place it as the background for the Photos app. This is a welcome addition apart from the fact the picture was very bright and amazingly, the text within the OS is also white..I could barely read anything on screen!

Rendering of webpages was quicker on the iPhone and this was using the same Wi-Fi connection.

The HD7 held better signal than the iPhone4 when the iPhone is "death gripped". Shock.

That's all I can really remember from my experience. It's not conclusive, because I barely got to grips with the phone (an hours play before it was taken off me).

Oh and no multitasking or copy/paste? Really...you have a "Word" application without copy/paste? That was a bit amateurish.

 

[Fabienne]

Please note: I do not, I repeat NOT have anything against poor old Microsoft. I use them, I would be dead without them, I have a PC and I am very pleased with it going to keep it.

That being said, I am always dismayed by the fact that Microsoft cannot get a product together before going to market unless they just go to the end of their tether. I know big companies, used to work for GE, and this is not unusual. Just takes one loudmouth upper management type to shoot off during a corporate dinner and they have committed everyone to a short cycle (GE again). Wiser heads get paid a lot to prevail but seldom do.

I wish that I had not read that the new Windows phone is "not final hardware" over and over again. No cut and paste. Seeing the ad that Microsoft has for the phones and being dismayed that it is a dead end, without the grace to tell you when it's going to happen, how, you can place an order, or some string along? Get me excited, boys! Apple can do it, what's wrong with you?

How about: what the heck is a hub and why should I want one and why is it not like the rest of the Microsoft straightjacket software features? Why are you better than an iPhone? Tell me. Do you come in colors? Have a better app market? Are you more flexible? Drop fewer calls? Let me know.

Don't tempt me to say "wow, this is just like Vista or Zune". Windows 7 is a great product. They learned their lesson there. If they are competing with Apple, they really should have had it all ready to go right out of the box and looking like $1,000,000. That would have been a run for the money.

There are so many entrants into the market now that if you bring something out which is half baked, people are going to notice. That is the way it is in my business, and I don't think there is any reason to excuse a multi-billion dollar company from being top quality when it debuts a product. They are not your "local" little mom and pop trying to make it in a big bad world, they are a giant in the industry and should be acting like it.

 

[mckinnie]

iOS is terribly boring now. Windows Phone 7 looks awesome, I will be purchasing one.

 

[Nippur]

I'm coming all the way from Windows Mobile 6.5 (and Nokia, Eriksson, etc., before that).

I've finally decided last month to purchase the iPhone 4. I had the first iPod Touch and even when I liked a lot, wasn't convinced to buy an Apple phone until now with the 4.

Never considered Android since from my experience in the Xda forums it works the same way as WM 6.5 regarding the need to be constantly looking for software on line and installing back and forth to make things work.

I can tell you, WM 6.1/6.5 was awful, sure some customizations options are nice, notifications were still better in my old WM 6.5 than in iOS, but those drawbacks are left behind when you start enjoying the possibilities of the iPhone to get to good content easy and fast without having to work for it.

Was in doubt over Windows Phone 7, even considered to wait and see, checked all the previews, hands on, reviews, etc. and I think it looked promising, but I'm to wounded after Windows Mobile, so I finally decided to get the iPhone 4 and I can tell you I don't regret it for a minute.

I'm even thinking in selling my still very good Dell Studio notebook with Windows 7 and going full Apple.

I don't know, should I wait for the upcoming new MBP or should I get the awesome MBA 13".....

I'm considering going "Windows free". We'll see...

 

[kdarling]

Never considered Android since from my experience in the Xda forums it works the same way as WM 6.5 regarding the need to be constantly looking for software on line and installing back and forth to make things work.

There's no need to do anything like that.

Remember, XDA is full of people who like to tinker.

 

[sviato]

filmed with an iphone? lol

 

[Deadman64]

iOS is terribly boring now. Windows Phone 7 looks awesome, I will be purchasing one.

I have to agree.

iOS needs more "sexy" effects and a better notification system.

It also needs to do something with the lock screen.

I want to see every icon animated (or at least some, or the OPTION)(ex. weather should update to correct temp and pic that reflects weather. Clock should spin/tick, settings' gears should function) I mean why not? Android has animated weather and it looks absolutely awesome.

I thought Apple was all about this form thing? I'm surprised they haven't done more of the above.

 

[goobot]

still prefer the iphone. tho this does look cooler than android. plus it has halo waypoint!

 

[foxnews1]

I'm coming all the way from Windows Mobile 6.5 (and Nokia, Eriksson, etc., before that).

I've finally decided last month to purchase the iPhone 4. I had the first iPod Touch and even when I liked a lot, wasn't convinced to buy an Apple phone until now with the 4.

Never considered Android since from my experience in the Xda forums it works the same way as WM 6.5 regarding the need to be constantly looking for software on line and installing back and forth to make things work.

I can tell you, WM 6.1/6.5 was awful, sure some customizations options are nice, notifications were still better in my old WM 6.5 than in iOS, but those drawbacks are left behind when you start enjoying the possibilities of the iPhone to get to good content easy and fast without having to work for it.

Was in doubt over Windows Phone 7, even considered to wait and see, checked all the previews, hands on, reviews, etc. and I think it looked promising, but I'm to wounded after Windows Mobile, so I finally decided to get the iPhone 4 and I can tell you I don't regret it for a minute.

I'm even thinking in selling my still very good Dell Studio notebook with Windows 7 and going full Apple.

I don't know, should I wait for the upcoming new MBP or should I get the awesome MBA 13".....

I'm considering going "Windows free". We'll see...

my situation is like yours. my two-year experience with window 6.5 was so bad that I don't want Android. spent too much time on Xda and ppcgeek with buggy ROM. looking back, touch diamond and TP2 are junk phones. barely work right for basic stuff.

I now have ip4 and glad that I made the switch. all the customed apps and web sites that are designed/tested just for one phone: iphone.

I was excited when I heard about window Mobile 7 two years ago. but no more now. even if WM7 is solid and have a wow-factor, it would take years to get the level of iphone now. it would takes years to have enough mature apps, supported web sites, accessories, etc. I don't want to waste time again on immature product.

but I believe that if MS keeps thowring cash on WM7: free app, buying developers, etc, they will succeed eventually.

 

[foxnews1]

I have to agree.

iOS needs more "sexy" effects and a better notification system.

It also needs to do something with the lock screen.

I want to see every icon animated (or at least some, or the OPTION)(ex. weather should update to correct temp and pic that reflects weather. Clock should spin/tick, settings' gears should function) I mean why not? Android has animated weather and it looks absolutely awesome.

I thought Apple was all about this form thing? I'm surprised they haven't done more of the above.

coming from WM 6.5, those customized animated screen get boring quickly. it kills battery quickly and consumes resource. screen bloated with too much cramp info is a bad taste. I rather have a simple clean desk than messy desk with too many junk. a phone with full customized features but no feature working right is just a junk phone.

I like iphone clean and simple look screen, which is the key ingredient to what makes apple today.

 

[TITNTUFF]

I'm looking forward to next contract

In nine months I'll have my 2 years in with AT&T.
Verizon is coming into my area, AT&T MIGHT get 3G in my area sometime, Sprint has upgraded towers. So I'll have a choice of 3 carriers.
I have enjoyed my 3GS A LOT, but I have had a lot of fun with my other smartphones over the years.
So, when my contract comes up it will time to do some serious shopping around, and forum reading. With resources like MacRumors and posts like on this thread it will be exciting!

 

[Savor]

Microsoft did a commendable job with this OS. The responsiveness is as fast as webOS and iOS.

But sometimes I don't understand what the fuss is with every UI out there? You want to get to Point A to Point B fast. People are getting sick of the iPhone's grid-like look, but they eventually get sick of anything over time. Now what? A 10 sec Criss Angel trick after each transition? UI shouldn't try to entertain me with animated transition effects and touch gestures that I could care less after awhile. The wow factor wears off eventually. When I use Windows, I could care less how it presents itself to me after awhile. I just want to open apps and be done with it. We want to cut back and minimize the steps, but these 1-2 sec animated effects is just wasting more time and duping us into think it is so smooth.

 

[MacFanJeff]

It's a win-win for everyone that uses a cell phone. With both Android and Windows Phone 7 now in the mix, it is not nearly the same as when iPhone was all alone in the market. This can only help all of the companies make better devices, UI, etc. and we all benefit from the competition.

 

[dccorona]

I hope if you have a facebook app installed, that it supersedes that jump to the browser when you tap on someones status update, etc (so it takes you to the fb app instead)

also, someone better make a real youtube app real quick, I hear the one they have right now is really just a shortcut to the website (it opens in the browser)

 

[ohaithar]

The Windows 7 phone has a better interface than the iPhone......

 

[suss2it]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/532.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0.5 Mobile/8B117 Safari/6531.22.7)

I hope if you have a facebook app installed, that it supersedes that jump to the browser when you tap on someones status update, etc (so it takes you to the fb app instead)

also, someone better make a real youtube app real quick, I hear the one they have right now is really just a shortcut to the website (it opens in the browser)

What's wrong with that? The YouTube app isn't that good on iOS and in fact the web app version developed by YouTube is much better. So good for Microsoft for realizing that YouTube can make it's own site properly and accessible.

 

[Mike225]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/532.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0.5 Mobile/8B117 Safari/6531.22.7)



What's wrong with that? The YouTube app isn't that good on iOS and in fact the web app version developed by YouTube is much better. So good for Microsoft for realizing that YouTube can make it's own site properly and accessible.

Agreed. I never used/liked the youtube app on my iPhone/Android. After youtube revamped the site I never saw a need for it at all. I actually rather disliked the iOS youtube app and would try to stay away from it.

WP7 does require the youtube app to view youtube videos still so it is more than just a link to youtube.com mobile.

 

[dccorona]

Agreed. I never used/liked the youtube app on my iPhone/Android. After youtube revamped the site I never saw a need for it at all. I actually rather disliked the iOS youtube app and would try to stay away from it.

WP7 does require the youtube app to view youtube videos still so it is more than just a link to youtube.com mobile.

it uses the phones built in video player, not the youtube app, just like iOS

the iPhone YouTube app is decent, but the iPad iPhone app is amazing

 

[mgamber]

Please note: I do not, I repeat NOT have anything against poor old Microsoft. I use them, I would be dead without them, I have a PC and I am very pleased with it going to keep it.

That being said, I am always dismayed by the fact that Microsoft cannot get a product together before going to market unless they just go to the end of their tether. I know big companies, used to work for GE, and this is not unusual. Just takes one loudmouth upper management type to shoot off during a corporate dinner and they have committed everyone to a short cycle (GE again). Wiser heads get paid a lot to prevail but seldom do.

I wish that I had not read that the new Windows phone is "not final hardware" over and over again. No cut and paste. Seeing the ad that Microsoft has for the phones and being dismayed that it is a dead end, without the grace to tell you when it's going to happen, how, you can place an order, or some string along? Get me excited, boys! Apple can do it, what's wrong with you?

How about: what the heck is a hub and why should I want one and why is it not like the rest of the Microsoft straightjacket software features? Why are you better than an iPhone? Tell me. Do you come in colors? Have a better app market? Are you more flexible? Drop fewer calls? Let me know.

Don't tempt me to say "wow, this is just like Vista or Zune". Windows 7 is a great product. They learned their lesson there. If they are competing with Apple, they really should have had it all ready to go right out of the box and looking like $1,000,000. That would have been a run for the money.

There are so many entrants into the market now that if you bring something out which is half baked, people are going to notice. That is the way it is in my business, and I don't think there is any reason to excuse a multi-billion dollar company from being top quality when it debuts a product. They are not your "local" little mom and pop trying to make it in a big bad world, they are a giant in the industry and should be acting like it.

Heh...yeah, that's always been Microsoft's problem...marketting. At least they're finally advertising but the commercial I've seen has a bunch of people with their faces buried in their phones and along comes Microsoft's phone promising (threatening) "to save you from your phone". I've seen it a bunch of times and it doesn't make sense. How do you do anything worth doing on a phone without burying your face in it, at least for a short time? It doesn't exactly grab me by the lapel and drag me into the store of a carrier that's selling the phone. Just like the commercials with Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Gates. Sure, they were mildly amusing but I can't even remember what product they were advertising. Was it Windows 7 or Vista? Was it even Windows? It might have been Office. Windows 7 owns OS X in every way but you'd never know it based on Microsoft ads. Look at all the people on this site who still cling to the sad, old notion that Windows crashes and locks up and is just a veneer covering DOS and whatever other patent crap still gets passed around as fact. It's kind of ironic that Microsoft built itself from nothing based on almost pure marketting and now that it owns the computer market, it couldn't market it's way out of wet paper bag if it's life depended on it.

 

[Phil A.]

I had a look at a Windows 7 phone in the O2 store yesterday (HTC HD7) and was completely underwhelmed by it. I didn't like the interface at all and it just looked childish and being different for the sake of it (in fact, it looked like a fisher price "my first phone" to me!). Add to that the fact that it's more locked down than the iPhone and I see no attraction in it at all. Maybe 3 years ago, but now...

 

[SR2]

I disagree. iOS just "works." It's simple in design, uncomplicated, and easy. I feel no need to change something that essentially works perfectly, no matter how "boring" it is.

It's a good thing for Apple that they don't agree with you. How many iphone owners have an Android phone because they wanted to try something different?

 

[SR2]

I had a look at a Windows 7 phone in the O2 store yesterday (HTC HD7) and was completely underwhelmed by it. I didn't like the interface at all and it just looked childish and being different for the sake of it (in fact, it looked like a fisher price "my first phone" to me!). Add to that the fact that it's more locked down than the iPhone and I see no attraction in it at all. Maybe 3 years ago, but now...

You're in the minority. Most people are very impressed with WP7.

 

[mz100]

While Windows Phone 7 looks pretty cool, it will not be bigger than the iPhone IMO.

Yes, their will be people that will buy it because they like the way it works/also the die hard Zune fans, but with the Simplicity of IOS, the app store, and the support, the iPhone will always stay the most popular.

Windows fans will love the new clean UI and that is something that shines, however the UI is not efficient.

When you look at the "startscreen" you can only see what five things??
messages,phone,contacts, mail pictures,xbox live, and "me" thats it the rest you have to scroll down to, when you look at the IOS homescreen their are 24 apps ready without having to scroll or pan over, its just a simple OS, not to mention the color scheme on windows phone 7 is pretty bland. Yeah you can get green, pink, blue, but EVERY icon is like that, the iPhone features many different colors with the retina display looks amazing.

It seems that the whole windows phone 7 ui makes you work a little bit to do simple stuff, liek looking at pics, (their is only a small amount of the screen that you can see, the rest you have to scroll too) with the iPhone you have all your information and data available in the most efficiently and user friendly way.

Windows phone 7 looks a lot better than windows mobile but its still a far second to IOS.

 

[Mike225]

They are advertising in the World Series right now.

The "Really?" commercial. Its pretty good, and at first I thought some people wouldn't understand it, but my friend (Constantly on his iPhone since first gen) got it and thought it was pretty funny.

 

[mattdo93]

Though I haven't played with the phones yet, I must admit that the commercial for the Windows Phone 7 is pretty funny as well (plus that lady who threw the pillow at her husband is sexy as hell!)